I didn't have a great experience in
Macedonia. Starting from the crossing the border and meeting some people made
me feel so terrible I felt like I won't go back there... I felt embarrassed, so
categorized, so ridiculed. Not once but twice (once while entering from Albania
side, and once while leaving from Bulgaria side), thanks Macedonia, I will
never revisit you like this! It's not that I didn't have a valid visa, it's not
that your Government does not recognize German Residency permit but because of
your ignorance and divisive mentality,
feel so sad that the lady whom I must have complained about it had
recently left us.
Until I had started researching about
this very mountain, I didn't know that it has the palaces of so many the Gods!
Yea Mythology, I am not going into that but, as you can see, I did meet the God
Zeus on the top of Greece.
This year a summer holiday
encompassing more than five countries in eastern Europe was fascinating and
very exciting!
Greece:
Every travel has a story, just like
every traveler has a lot of stories. This is one of that kind. A lot of story
in a few days. Very main highlighted points in this part were; i) climb up the
highest mountain of Greece; Mount Olympus ii) to meet a friend and iii) climb
up the highest mountain of the whole Balkans, Mount Musala together.
I reached Thessaloniki, the northern
city of Greece which is closed to the mountain, Mount Olympus. Well, it was not
that close like Munich.
The hostel i booked to sleep in
Thessaloniki is named as Stay Hybrid Histel,
I should have asked them why is the exact meaning of that. But maybe
next time I will do that if I see them again. My flight landed at night. Even
at night, I felt hot! But didn't realize I will understand it very well the
next day. And by the time I reached the hostel, it was after midnight. So, I
got the key and left toward the room. I found there were 6 beds in one of the
beds a girl was lying down and she told me my bed is above her. Okay, I didn't say much just went to take a
shower, followed by the bed. Next day,
after a sweet sleep which is generally not my thing when I am traveling, but
it's not like that anymore, guess I'm aging
or getting used to it. I was confused about what to do. I really wanted to go
towards Chalkidiki this name sound so attractive to my hear. There are there
peninsulas like three legs come out from northern Greece and hanging toward the
sea, Thracian Sea. So, one has to decide which leg he/she wanna go.
I was asking to the reception of my
hostel, the girl on that day seemed nice, she told me second or middle leg is
more beautiful, but it rakes a lot of time to be there. I was considering for
the first leg because of capturing the subset. The third would have been better
for seeing the sunrise..but reaching there before Sunrise would be almost
impossible for me since I don't drive. But I came to know later that to reach
that peninsula, I would need a visa, and this part is exclusive for men. I
belong to orthodox monks and men go there to serve Montessori. Huh! I had no idea.
But I went to a point where one can
get a bus for Chalkidiki and realized it's a very optimistic idea to go there
and come back in the same day. And it could be too much because I go hiking on
the day after to the highest mountain in Greece. I dropped the idea and came
back to the City of Thessaloniki.
Instead, I thought I should go to a
city tour and might capture subset from somewhere. So, I roamed around and
decided to see the sunset from the trigono tower. It's not far from my hostel,
but it's not very close to the seaside. I visited a photography exhibition in
the photography museum at the shore of Thessaloniki. It was nice to see the
different aspects of modern photography. I liked most of the themes of the
exhibition. The special in them was 'the room' - so simple but so beautiful.
Then I sat beside the sea and looking at the waves I wondered how strong the
lands are, or has to be. So many strong
waves are coming for years, but they still survive, just like my weak heart, so
many of hurdles and failures still it's hopeful one day...
I didn't realize until I saw the time
that these 'ha ja ba ra la' takes so much time. Its only 2 hours remaining to
the sunset, so, I must walk faster toward the tower. I must say it's not easy
yo travel in this weather of so hot and humidity without a sign of breeze which
cools down the system.
Mount Olympus, a range of mountains
located in northern Greece almost to the border of North Macedonia, contains 52
peaks, the highest being Mytikas (2,918 m) which is the highest peak of Greece
as well.
I had started my journey from
Thessaloniki and with public transport. So, one needs to take a bus to the
central bus station called Macedonia. And then a bus till Litochoro from where
one can start the hike with a very famous and holy trail of E4 which leads to
the hut Refuge A which is also very renowned. By the time I reached the hut, it
was 5:00 pm, so the hut people didn't encourage me from doing the peak on the
same day. I listened to them like a good boy as this was my first solo hike and
that too in a completely unknown mountain. That actually had a positive point.
I could have a proper sleep and wake up really early to see the galaxy and
awesome sunrise.
On the next day, I had started hiking
very early so that I can explore more than I had planned which I did. At one
point, I was a bit de-trailed due to weak GPS signal and while I was almost
thinking to drop the idea of sumitting Mytikas, I heard those three Greek men
and i went with them. They were really lovely and helpful. One of them even had
a rope which we used to climb down.
I could not take a better selfie at
the top with those guys because there was too much light and I was unable to
see.. Hahaha. When we reached to the other side after the climb of Mytikas, I
saw the hut where there were horses standing ..Unlike in Germany or in Austria
where I earn a beer after a hike, I earned a Frappe in Mount Olympus.
While coming down from the mountain
the view of Litochoro from the E4 trail was mesmerizing.. Its like a painting.
Albania:
And, I moved to Pogradec, Albania,
well, in my dream.
This is a small city or town, located
in the central-eastern part of Albania of around 100 sq km. The city is
fantastically situated between hills (on its south/west part) and the beautiful
lake (on its north/east part). And if someone can climb up a few steps to one
of the nearby hills, he will have an excellent view of the city.
I didn't know about this place, well,
I guess very few people know outside Albania. But, many know about the Lake
Ohrid so did I. I wanted to go to City Ohrid which is located on the eastern
part of Lake Ohrid, in North Macedonia. But there was not a direct bus from
Thessaloniki to Ohrid. Instead, there was a direct bus from Thessaloniki to
Pogradecec. And I had instantly decided to take that and followed by discovery.
Very few people speak English. Some of them were offering me to speak either
French or Italian.. But alas. I don't do so.
I was walking around alone. I wanted
to climb up to a hill to have a great view of the city, while I met a man who
was walking his horse in the same direction. I was a bit afraid because of I
didn't hear many good things about Albania and I don't speak the local
language.
Still, I tried to hold a conversation
with this man. And somehow I conveyed to him that I would like to go to the top
whether it is allowed. He not only agreed but also showed me the proper trail
to go up. He was asking me whether everything is well in India (that I
guessed). I had told him 'all is well,' we, I didn't want to make the
conversation so prolonged. He was not happy with the Albanian economy I
believed.
Then I came down to the lake I so much
wanted to swim there but not seeing a single tourist I was a bit resistant and
left that idea. But I
did have great local food in the city,
including the Koran fish.
Since it's not at tourists, there was
not even a gift shop. 🥰
The fish was from the lake (koran
fish).
Macedonia:
The tale of two small cities in
Macedonia, Strugga, and Ohrid both ate situated on the Northeastern side of the
Lake Ohrid.
So, in the beginning, I wanted to to
go to Ohrid directly from Greece, but due to lack of transportation, I went to
Pogradec and then from there to Ohrid and Struga.
As I had already become happy with
Lake Ohrid, instead of spending time at Ohrid, I wanted to go to Mavrovi Anovi
which is at the base of Mt Korab to climb up; I heard there is a bus from
Strugga to that point. I had already booked accommodation there but due to the
delaying of the border control I could not reach on time and who knew that the
last bus goes at 17:30.. Anyhow it's only 80 km till from that place Strugga,
so I was also considering to take a taxi. The first taxi driver asked for 40
euro; I thought it's too much. I asked a second one he asked for 60 euro. The
last asked for 90 euro. Huh. Then I took a taxi to go back to Ohrid, and it
costs only 2 euro, so I was conversing with the driver whether there is any
possibility to go to that valley. He was confused. Well doesn't speak much of
English. There was his son in the taxi, a young school goer. He was telling me
that it's not only to take me to that valley but also it is his father
responsibility to make me there safely. Something happens on the road. I was so
surprised, what does he mean? He was telling someone can kill us.
Bulgaria:
From Ohrid, Macedonia I went to Sofia,
Bulgaria via The capital of Macedonia, Skopje.
Rila mountains are beautiful mountain
range situated at the southwestern part of Bulgaria. These are the highest
mountain range in Bulgaria as well as the Balkan Peninsula. These are the 6th
highest mountain range of Europe. The highest point of this mountain range is
Musala which is 2,925 m above the sea range. I was staying in Sofia and from
there I hiked to Musala in one day by public transport. I took the metro to the
regional bus station from there I took a bus till Samokov. From Samokov, there
is transfer till Borovets. To make it on one day I used the cable car to Upper
cable car station from where Musala hut is of one hour and that of Musala Peak
is for three hours. The hut Musala is the hut I supposed to spend the night but
due to bad weather, I had to cancel it. When I reach the hut I saw there is a
lake which was reflecting the mountain as well as the hut. So, making it
awesome landscape! I could not resist but made a couple of long exposure shots. 
Welcome to Niš, Serbia. Niš, one of
the oldest cities of Balkans, is the third-largest city of Serbia. It is
considered as the gateway between East and West. It has a history of Romans,
Turkish, and many more rulers.. The exciting thing is Niš is the birthplace of
the #Constantine the Great who built #Constantinople which I remembered to read
in history texts in the school 🚸. I didn't spend much time in Serbia as it was
not included in this trip, but the six hours I spent in a southern city of
Serbia was highly appreciable. First, I met a friend who is a friend's friend
(the girl in this photo#7), she was so lovely to me. Even if we met for the
first time and I asked her just on the morning of the same day, she spent four
hours of her time with me. I don't know whether I would not have done that.
Nowadays, people don't have time for strangers 😂. She took
me the most delicious and authentic restaurant in Niš. There we had such great
food which I didn't have for a long time. Nowadays, I don't promote meat, but
this meat (photo#2) was the best meat I tried for a long time. Its called
Smoked Ramsteak. It was so awesome, and it stuck to my tongue for the whole
day..there were many more varieties of meat and cheese. The third photo was of
a cheese preparation called Breaded Cheese or #belmuz. 
We had two bottles of Serbian wine one
was #prokupac
Then we walked by the river #Nišava
and from the city center did shopping tried a coffee. Even she is a medical
student, she was prepared for giving me a guided tour of the city, and she was
quite good at it. Thank you very much, Nevena 😊
#9th photo (except the mountain) was
reminding me of old Delhi, so many people, so many unorganized shops, thellas,
etc.
And then the last photo was captured
from the Bus which I took to reach Montenegro from Serbia. Although the bus
journey was long, it was a great start with the beautiful sunset.
Montenegro:
After Niš, Serbia, I reached to
Podgorica in Montenegro, which is a pretty new Nation. It was a long bus
journey but quite comfortable although at times I was a bit tensed because of
the hilly roads. After reaching to Podgorica, I realized it was not a great
decision or super choice. It's indeed the most boring city in Europe. So, I
just relaxed there for a day, and I ate, slept, and roam around in the town a
bit.
The only exciting thing I found was
the statue with a guitar. The statue of Vladimir Vysotsky was erected on the
bank of the Morača river, between the Moscow and Millennium bridges. Later I
came to know Vladimir Vysotsky was a famous Russian poet, songwriter, and
singer who died young from an overdose. And his connection with Montenegro is
that he was living in Podgorica for making a movie and expressed his love for
Montenegro in his poems.
On the next day, while traveling to
Croatia, I realized I should have halted in Kotor, which is so amazingly
located beside a huge lake. Interestingly, my bus took me covering the whole
lake. So, three of the photos of this post were taken from the Bus of the lakes
and mountains close to Kotor.
When I reached the border of Croatia,
I realized that I was entering to EU. Then there was a never-ending prolonged
queue which took 4 hours to get it cleared. I share a photo of the line.
Croatia:
Coming soon..